Alone
by Gatituh
Summary: There are just some things that can't be shared without ending with an everlasting friendship, but apparently battling Pegasus and sharing an ancient egyptian history isn't one of them. Life after Duelist Kingdom is hard for Ryou, but sometimes even the darkest moments have a silver lining, and Ryou learns that there's much more to his Yami than just a vicious thirst for pain.


I do not own any of the characters in this story.

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**Ryou**

I could still hear their laughter ringing in my ears as I hid in the corner of one of the back hallways at our school. I sat on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest. _I wish someone could just understand me. Feel what I feel._ In the distance, I could hear someone running through the halls.

"Ryou?"

_Oh no, not her. Why can't she just leave me alone?_ I pulled my knees closer to my chest as her footfalls grew louder. Within a few seconds she rounded the corner. She stopped when she saw me, her balance faltering slightly. I lifted my eyes to meet hers, but just ended up staring at her chin. _What does she want now?_

"Ryou, they didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Joey and Tristan were just joking."

My eyes shifted up to look into hers and I began to lose my grip of reality. I hid my face against my knees as he took control of my mind. When I looked back up into her eyes, an evil smile had broken across my lips. I let my body relax as her eyebrows pulled together angrily. She took a step back slightly, then hesitated.

"What are you doing here? Go away. I want to talk to Ryou." She crossed her arms across her chest and scowled at me.

"Oh, Anzu. He doesn't want to talk to you. Why do you suddenly care how he feels anyways?"

"I've always car—"

"Oh shut up. Why would you lie like that? You're better than that, aren't you, little girl?" I could tell that last comment really hurt her. She knew what I said was true. I watched her as she looked down and exhaled slowly.

"It's not like you understand him any better than I do. You force him to do things he doesn't want to do. You leave him in life threatening situations. You don't care if he even lives or dies." Anger boiled deep within my chest. How dare she say something like that to me! I stood up and grabbed her by her collar, pulling her to me so her face is just inches from mine. When I spoke, my voice was louder. Stronger.

"You think I don't care? Anzu, you stupid girl! You could never understand this boy the way I do. You could never feel what this boy feels. The amount of pain he's felt in his short existence is more than most people feel before they're on their deathbed. This poor boy has been mistreated in ways you could never even fathom. When you and your bloody friends left him alone after Duelist Kingdom, you could never begin to understand the amount of loneliness he felt. It was suffocating him. He had no one. No one but me. I can hear his every thought. Feel his every emotion. I have access to all of his memories. _No one could understand this boy the way I do!_ When you left him, all he had left was me. And I took care of him; pushed him to live on. What you don't understand is I need this boy. More than you can ever imagine. I would never put this boy in real danger. _I would never risk his life! _I need him to survive. Without him, I can't exist. This boy is my _everything_. And if you think I don't care for this boy, you've got another thing coming."

Somewhere in that speech, Anzu had fallen backward onto the ground. There's a look on her face that I couldn't place. Fear? No. More like confusion. In the back of my mind I could hear his timid little voice. _Yami…_ And then I felt it. An emotion I haven't felt in years. Millennia even. It was only there for a brief second before it disappeared, but it was too strong not to notice. And I couldn't ignore it. _It can't be._ The boy... he loves me. My body grew rigid as the boy took control of his body again.

I looked down and backed up against the wall.

"Go away, Anzu." Her eyes widened at the sound of my voice.

"Ryou, are you okay?" She moved towards me and extended her hand to grab my wrist, but I pulled away before she could touch me. I crossed my arms over my chest protectively and turned away from her.

"Just leave me alone," I said quietly. "I want to be alone right now."

"Ryou—"

"Just go away!" The hallway echoed with my voice. She stood there for a moment before she pulled away and huffed in defeat. After few seconds, I heard her turn and run back to class.

I slowly slid back down to sit on the cold linoleum floor. I pulled my knees back to my chest and stared at the lockers across the hall, not really looking at them. I never knew my Yami cared so much about me. I never knew he understood me so much. I could sense him hiding in the shadows of my millennium ring and I rubbed my thumb against one of the spikes hanging off the side of the ring. My body didn't seem to ache as much as it usually does. The loneliness I usually feel seemed less powerful than normal. _Oh Yami. I'm so sorry for how I've acted towards you._ I began to think of all the things he's done for me in the past. The battles he fought on my behalf. The way he was always there to talk to me when I felt so alone. When the pain was just too overwhelming. I thought he was only making things worse. Taunting me. But he wasn't. In his own twisted way, he really does care about me.

He's quieter than normal. He doesn't normally stay hidden in the millennium ring. The bell rang for the end of the day and I slowly rose to my feet. I rubbed my wet eyes as students begin to flow into hallways. Like always, I didn't have to worry about them noticing the sadness on my face. I was just as invisible to them as I ever am. But today was different. I may still have been invisible, but at least now I have a friend. A small smile formed across my lips and my heart lightened slightly. _Thank you, Yami._ I made my way out into the afternoon sun as I began my long walk home.


End file.
